The Jewish Quarter: Resistance & Remembrance

Amsterdam, Netherlands

50 tickets 3.2 km · about 1 hr 40 mins · 12 stops · Standard walk How Walking Tickets work

World War IIImmigration & DiasporaCommerce & TradeParks & Gardens

This walk traces Amsterdam’s Sephardic Jewish community, from its arrival after expulsion from Spain and Portugal to its rise as a center of trade, scholarship, and diamond work. It also shows how the city’s global networks shaped science, with places like the Hortus Botanicus linked to the study of plants, spices, and coffee. The route then turns to World War Two, when Amsterdam’s Jews were isolated, deported, and murdered, while resistance took shape across the city. Key stops include the Portuguese Synagogue, the Hollandsche Schouwburg, and the Walraven van Hall Monument.

The stops

01
Hollandsche Schouwburg
A place of profound wartime memory, the former theater became a deportation point for Amsterdam’s Jews under Nazi occupation. It stands as one of the city’s strongest memorial sites for the deportation of Jewish residents.
02
Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam
One of the city’s great botanical institutions, the Hortus ties together tropical botany, trade, and scientific collecting.
03
De Hortus
The Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam is one of the world’s oldest botanical gardens, founded in 1638. It is known for its historic plant collections and research role in botany.
04
De Portugees Israëlietische Synagoge / The Portuguese Sephardic Synagogue
The Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam, also called the Esnoga, was completed in 1675 and is a major monument of the city’s Sephardic Jewish community. It is one of the largest surviving 17th-century synagogues in Europe.
05
Jewish Historical Museum
This museum anchors the story of Jewish Amsterdam, from Sephardic roots and communal life to the trauma of wartime deportations.
06
Jodenbreestraat
A historic artery of the old Jewish quarter, close to the Sephardic and broader Jewish world of Amsterdam and deeply marked by WWII deportations.
07
Waterlooplein / Huis de Pinto
Waterlooplein is a square in Amsterdam closely associated with the city’s Jewish quarter and market life. Huis de Pinto, a notable 17th-century house, stands nearby and is linked to the prominent Sephardic de Pinto family.
08
Joods Verzetsmonument /Jewish Resistance Monument
The Jewish Resistance Monument in Amsterdam commemorates Jewish resistance to Nazi persecution during World War II. It honors those who resisted in forms ranging from clandestine aid to armed and organized opposition.
09
Woonhuis familie Nunes da Costa / Residence of the Nunes da Costa Family
A historic residence associated with the Sephardic Nunes da Costa family, offering a direct link to elite Portuguese-Jewish domestic and mercantile life in Amsterdam.
10
Amstelhof
Now known as the museum site at H’ART Museum, the former Amstelhof speaks to Amsterdam’s layered urban history and the reuse of historic institutions in the heart of the eastern canal area.
11
Organized Resistance - the Free Groups of Amsterdam
A resistance-themed stop that speaks to the underground networks that opposed occupation in Amsterdam. It enriches the wartime deportation story by showing how civilians organized against Nazi control.
12
Walraven van Hall Monument
The Walraven van Hall Monument commemorates Walraven van Hall, a Dutch banker and resistance leader. He is best known for financing the Dutch resistance during World War II.